Scottish FA host second annual Hampden Convention

Wednesday 9 December 2015

The second annual Hampden Convention took place at Scotland's National Stadium, with an array of talks and workshops for the association's members.

After an introduction from Scottish FA Chief Executive Stewart Regand and President Alan McRae, the first talk of the day was from UEFA's Benchmarking Manager Sefton Perry on how Scotland compares to the rest of Europe across a number of factors in football. This was followed by a presentation from Heimer Hallgrímsson, the co-manager of Icelandic national team, who gave a detailed account of the nation's recent successes.

The Women in Scottish Football Panel, featuring Ann Budge, Justine Mitchell, Rachel Corsie, Shelley Kerr and Eilidh Barbour, discussed the rise in prominence and profile of women in the game.

Aside from the talks, there were workships covering various aspects of the game, ranging from Martin Calladine's talk on what Scottish football can learn from the NFL, to Andrew Jenkin of Supporters Direct Scotland discussing how to engage and involve supporters, Julie Ferguson of the Scottish FA's digital workshop to a talk on responsible gambling and integrity from William Hill's Bill South and Peter McLaughlin of the Scottish FA.

"Youth Football and Children's Rights" was the next topic of discussion, debated by Tam Baillie (Commissioner for Children and Young People), Andrew McKinlay (Scottish FA Director of Football Governance), Duncan Fraser (Aberdeen Chief Executive), Craig Mullholland (Rangers Head of Youth) and Christine Wright (Queen's Park General Manager), before an update on the National Performance Centre for Sport.

Scottish FA Performance Director Brian McClair and Scotland National Coach Gordon Strachan were the final event of the day, discussing with the convention's compere Richard Gordon how to tackle football's future.